


sometimes, we all need someone by our side

by situational_irony_13



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cuddles, Gen, Hot Chocolate, Hurt/Comfort, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, The Starks bonding with Peter, loneliness + slight depressive angst, pepper is amazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:02:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23533498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/situational_irony_13/pseuds/situational_irony_13
Summary: It's 2AM, and Peter is sitting on a rooftop, completely alone.Even Spiderman needs someone he can rely on.And sometimes, Peter Parker needs someone to fight the everyday demons with him.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 8
Kudos: 122
Collections: mama pepper fics





	sometimes, we all need someone by our side

The first thought that came to his mind was that it was too cold to be sitting motionless on this roof.

But here he was, sitting entirely still, the tear tracks on his face frozen rivers of silent anguish. He sat still, because if he moved, Peter wasn’t sure he wouldn’t keel over sobbing. It wasn’t anything; he couldn’t pinpoint any reason he was this sad. He was okay throughout the week, but it was 2 AM, and he had just finished patrol. He was simply sitting here, watching the moon, and suddenly crying violently. 

Then came the stillness. 

The stillness was the worst part, Peter decided. All of him felt too fragile, like he was holding himself together with his bare hands.

What was happening to him? Why was he just sitting here, raw? 

A thought occurred to Peter suddenly, and the sheer childishness of it made him want to pinch himself. ‘Spiderman doesn’t need hugs!’ he scolded to himself. But the more Peter thought about it, the more he realised he just wanted to collapse into someone’s arms. 

May was on a night shift though. He couldn’t interrupt her in the hospital.

Peter grimaced. This was definitely something he could ask Tony, he’d even be happy about it. Peter still couldn’t help but feel a little awkward about asking the man for emotional support.

‘It’ll be okay, and you need it Parker. It’s-it’s Tony. He-he cares about you. You care about him. Suck it up” 

At this point, Peter’s teeth were chattering, and he knew he had to get indoors soon. Karen had activated the suit heater for him ages ago, but it was less effective the longer he sat outside.

Peter felt himself go numb, physically and emotionally, as he swung over to the Tower. He hadn’t realised how long he’d been carrying the weight of this irrational despair. He landed on the window of the Tower that slid open when he put his palm on it. He always thought it was so cool that it only worked for him. “Simple biometric scanners and cameras, Underoos. And even if I didn’t put all that in, FRIDAY always knows when you’re around. She loves you.” Tony had been so nonchalant about it, but the ability to see Tony whenever he needed to meant a lot for Peter. Just thinking about it made him smile.

Tony always made him smile. 

He dropped onto the little cushion Tony placed under the window (“I’m Spiderman, I don’t need a landing pad!” “Whatever you say, Underoos. Just think of it as part of the luxury of having me as a mentor.”) and pulled off his mask. He proceeded to tap on the emblem on his suit and slip out of it, pulling on Tony’s old MIT sweater (“It doesn’t fit me anymore! Just take it, pipsqueak. You’ll freeze.”) and some random sweatpants on the shelf. (“I really don’t want you walking around my multimillion dollar facility in boxers, Petey.”) 

How was it possible that just walking into this building made him feel better?

“Hey FRIDAY, where’s Mr. Stark?” Peter asked.

“Boss is in Malibu, Peter.” FRIDAY said.

Somehow that’s all it took. Somehow the forceful seizure of the comfort Peter was clinging to was all it took for Peter to go numb again. He dimly realized he was crying again, and that he was curled up into a ball in the living room. 

God, he’d never felt so alone. 

He’d have to go home on his own, lie in his bed and wait for morning on his own again. His chest felt like it was caving in. 

In his anguish, he missed the sound of footsteps running into the living room. 

“Peter! Are you alright?!” A panicked voice rang out, and he felt soft contact rubbing small circles into his back.

“Peter.” The voice took on a more assertive tone, as the fingertips lifted his face to look at her. Pepper Potts’s concerned face looked down at him. “Are you physically hurt in any way?”

He shook his head, but couldn’t keep himself from letting out a pathetic whimper. Any sternness in Pepper’s face melted away, and she gathered him in her arms. Peter melted into her, broken sobs tumbling out of him. 

They sat like that, Pepper holding Peter’s crying form until his sobs quieted to little sniffles. 

They sat, finally a stillness that made Peter feel full rather than empty. 

When Peter had finally stopped trembling, Pepper decided it was safe to whisper a question to him. “Do you need me to call Tony? You know he’ll be here as fast as he can take the suit without it combusting in the air.” 

“No, no,” Peter interjected, pulling away from Pepper to wipe at his face with the sleeves of the sweatshirt. “Tony always looks for excuses to get out of shareholder meetings. I won’t be the reason why he misses one.”

Pepper’s lips quirked into a small smile even as she said, “You know I would absolutely give him a free pass if he missed a meeting because of you.”

“I know you would, Miss Potts.”

The two sat in a slightly more awkward silence for a couple minutes, until Pepper got to her feet. “I’m going to make us some hot chocolate, if that’s alright with you.” She held out a hand for him. Peter looked down for a couple seconds, then took her hand.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Peter was honestly stunned. He knew Ms. Potts pretty well from how much time he spent around Tony on a daily basis, but she was always this elegant, efficient businesswoman. He’d always seen her in her power suits with high heels, or occasionally in a ball gown before a charity event. Right now, she was wearing fuzzy iron man slippers, pajama pants stained with motor oil (they were probably Tony’s), an AC/DC shirt (Tony’s), and a fluffy sweater. He hadn’t really gotten a good look at her when he was sobbing all over her, but he could see her clearly now, even in the dimmed kitchen lighting. 

Making hot chocolate started off a quiet situation, and Peter started to help by turning on the electric kettle filled with water and grabbing mugs. “Peter, what are you doing?” Pepper interjected. “Uh...helping you make hot chocolate?” Peter responded, a nervous edge creeping into his voice. ‘Gosh, he’s a skittish little thing,’ Pepper thought. She, of course, did not voice that sentiment, and instead chose to grab the mugs out of his hands while simultaneously ruffling his hair. “Sweetheart, Tony has absolutely corrupted you. We’re making real hot chocolate, not whatever Tony makes when he’s thirsty at 3 AM and FRIDAY has locked all the cabinets with caffeine in them.” she stated conclusively. “Under my orders, of course.” she said, winking at Peter. 

Peter couldn’t keep the smile off of his face. He consciously knew that he should be ridiculously embarrassed about this situation, what with his father-figure/mentor/Tony’s fiance finding him at his worst emotional state in a while, him crying all over her, and then sticking around after. But Ms. Potts was so calm and soothing about the whole situation, and she just took it in stride. It made him feel less embarrassed about the entire situation, more safe. It felt like sinking into a warm bath. Ms. Potts had, while he had been zoning out, filled a small pot with milk and placed it on the stove. He slowly realized that she had been talking this whole time, and rapidly tried to zone back in.

“In college, this was the one thing I lived on. I know that’s really bad advice, and I probably put on like ten pounds from this alone, but late night studying, we’d just make a large pot of hot chocolate and sip it as we went through. Especially during overnight group project work, which is pretty common in business school.”

She sprinkled in cocoa powder and sugar, stirring the pot all the while.

“Of course, all of these ingredients are way higher quality than what I bought in college. Pretty sure this cocoa powder is from Switzerland. But that’s only because I bought it. Knowing Tony, half our kitchen is filled with ridiculously expensive but random ingredients, and the other half is filled with junk from 7-11.” 

Peter let out a laugh, and Pepper turned to smile at him. 

“Hey, does FRIDAY know your music preferences Peter?” Pepper asked, turning back to the pot and adding in chocolate chips. 

“Oh, yeah Ms. Potts.” Peter answered.

“Tell her to play something, preferably on the quieter side. Don’t want to wake Happy up, though he is a couple floors down. And Peter, please call me Pepper. I mean you could call me Virginia, but that would make me feel like my mom is here.”

“Okay, Ms.-Pepper.” Pepper smiled amusedly at him.

“FRIDAY, play the stuff I use to get Tony to pass out on his lab table.” 

Pepper turned around to stare at him, eyes wide and twinkling. “You have a playlist for that and you didn’t share it with me?” she accused lightly. “Well, Ms. Potts, it’s only like 46% effective. But now you know, and FRIDAY can let you use it.” he replied smartly.

Pepper poured the hot chocolate into two separate mugs, but as Peter went to reach for his, she exclaimed, “Freeze! Don’t move. I’ll be right back.” She disappeared into the pantry, and returned with a wide grin, holding a bag with the Jet-Puffed logo. “See? Tony got this at Wal-Mart. Glad we have it though. Wouldn’t be hot chocolate without marshmallows.” She put a healthy amount in both mugs, and finally handed Peter his. 

The two sat in silence for a couple minutes, content to be sipping their hot chocolate. Peter broke the silence first, commenting, “This might be the best hot chocolate I’ve had in my life, Ms. Potts!” “Pepper, sweetie. And thank you so very much!” she replied. “So Peter,” Pepper began conversationally, “On a scale of 1-10, how relaxed and safe do you feel right now?” 

Peter was slightly taken aback by the question. He didn’t want to offend Ms. Potts (Pepper!), but he also figured she wanted him to respond truthfully. And the good part was that he did feel relaxed and safe. “Like, an 8 or an 8.5.” he responded softly. Pepper looked at him appraisingly, then relaxed. “Good, because if it was anywhere under 7 I was going to force Tony to get here like 10 hours early.” Peter quirked a smile, and took a long sip of his hot chocolate. Pepper suddenly started fidgeting slightly, and looked a little uncomfortable. “Look, I know I’m not Tony, and I’m sure as hell not your aunt, but I’m concerned. Is there anything that you might want to tell me? I promise I’m a good listener. But you don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to.” 

Peter started fidgeting, and he couldn’t meet her eyes. This was Pepper Potts, CEO of Stark Industries and a woman who barely knew him. She shouldn’t have to deal with all of this at 2 AM in the morning. 

But then, of course, Pepper read his mind. 

“Sometimes, I can’t sleep without Tony. He’s kind of a drama queen, and he thinks he’s constantly leaning on me and using me as a crutch but in reality I need him just as much as he needs me. I worry about him sometimes, but when all is said and done I feel safest when he’s with me. So I’m basically up for the rest of the night anyway.”

Peter looked up at her. She seemed genuine in her declaration, and he really wanted to let it all out. So he took a deep breath. 

“Well, Ms. Potts- or, er...Pepper. I don’t know why I feel so awful today. I mean, I have three times the textbook definition of childhood trauma, but I know when my emotional state is being affected by Spiderman. This is different. It just kind of hit me, really late after my patrol. I’m so alone. I’m-I’m lonely sometimes. I know that I have Ned, MJ, Aunt May, and Tony. But sometimes it just feels like I face everything alone. And that made me really sad. It made me feel lost, like after my uncle died.”

Pepper was silent for a couple seconds, then gave Peter a small smile.

“After the business with the Accords, Tony could rarely sleep. He used to spend all night down in his lab, and would barely even come up for food during the day. We weren’t together then, but one day Tony broke down and told me that he didn’t want to fight on his own anymore. I wanted to help, but I wasn’t sure I could. That was the only real time Tony let his guard down around me for a long time. But then you started showing up for your internship. You were his support then, and I know that if he were here he would be your support now. You never fight on your own, Peter.”

Peter looked up and said, “I know that Spiderman has allies-”

“I’m not talking about that sort of fight,” Pepper interjected. “You fight every day. We all fight the things that can hurt us if we let them, mentally and emotionally. And even though sometimes it feels like it, you never fight alone. You did the right thing, coming here. Because whenever you feel like this, you make your way to someone who will fight for you, who cares about you.”

Peter gave a wobbly smile.

“And when you stand by their side, the feeling of being alone lessens, right?”

“I don’t feel alone right now, Ms. Potts.” Peter confessed.

Pepper's expression turned fond as she said, “Neither do I, Peter. Now what do you say we go to bed?”

Peter’s eyes widened hysterically. “My aunt! I forgot to-”

“Already handled it, sweetheart. She knows you’re staying over. I texted her while we were making hot chocolate.” Pepper responded calmly.

Peter let out a relieved sigh, which turned into a long yawn.

“Okay then, bedtime for the baby-spider.” Pepper teased.

“Hey! Does Tony call me by my nicknames even when I’m not here?” Peter accused.

“Oh yeah. All the time. It’s always, ‘Underoos left his calculus homework!’ or ‘Baby-spider ripped a hole in his suit that I have to fix.” Pepper remarked.

Peter went tomato red, and that only made Pepper laugh harder.

“But wait, Pepper. If you can’t sleep I’ll stay up with you.” Peter said.

“How about I lay down in your room until you fall asleep, and I’ll try to sleep too. It can be like a makeshift slumber party.” Pepper suggested.

Peter began to agree with her, but he was interrupted by another yawn. Pepper smiled indulgently, and herded him towards the elevator that led to the living quarters. Peter’s room was filled with random nerd memorabilia, like Star Wars posters on the walls, and a Jurassic Park diorama made entirely out of Legos (it was quite large) on a table near the window. The bed was, honestly, much too large for one person, so he and Pepper fit with lots of room to spare. 

Pepper was intending on lying there until Peter’s breaths evened out, and then she was going to return to her office to send some emails to the Tokyo SI management, but the comfortable environment of the room soon lulled her into a deep slumber.

The two slept peacefully through the stillness of the night.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
It was no secret that Tony Stark hated board meetings. He especially hated board meetings when they were on the other end of the country, and Pepper wasn’t coming with him. Now, there was the added discomfort of not having Peter around. 

Which is why, stepping into his private elevator, he was looking forward to finding Pepper in her office and both of them taking a long nap. He knew, of course, that she often didn’t sleep when he wasn’t home (he made sure FRIDAY monitored her vitals when he went away) and he knew she could use the sleep.

When he got out of the elevator, he made a beeline for her office, leaving his luggage in the front room. “Pep, I’m hom-” he began to call, when he realized the office was completely empty. Huh. He walked out in a daze, when he saw Peter’s suit lying on the living room floor.

Oh god. What if they were taken? What if someone figured out Pete was Spiderman, and kidnapped him and Pepper? He was ready to spiral, when the rational part of him interrupted. FRIDAY would have alerted him if anything happened to either of them. And why was Peter here anyway?

“FRIDAY? Where’s Pepper?”

“Welcome Home, Boss. Pepper’s in Peter’s room. It appears they are both currently asleep.”

When Tony stepped off the elevator and entered Peter’s room, he was met with one of his favourite sights in the world. His heart gave a painful squeeze when he looked at Peter and Pepper, swaddled in his clothes, sleeping peacefully. He quietly slipped off his blazer and slid into bed next to Pepper. She blinked sleepily up at him when he wrapped her in his arms.

“Hey. How was the trip?”

“Ah, boring as always, Pep. Missed you. Though I guess you finally managed to get a good night’s sleep.” Tony replied, eyes flicking over to the sleeping teenager.

“Make sure to give him a big hug when he wakes up, Tony. You should have seen him last night, sobbing in the living room. Broke my heart.” She mentions dazedly, clearly still sleepy.

“Sobbing?” Tony asked, clearly alarmed. 

“He was physically fine, don’t worry. Just lonely. He was having a rough couple of weeks.” Pepper’s eyes bled fondness and concern as she thought back on their conversation.

“And he came to you?” Tony asked incredulously.

“He tried to come to you. I was a weak alternate.” Pepper quipped, though her cheeks began to color.

“You’re fond of him now aren’t you?” Tony said, faking exasperation.

“It’s so easy to become fond of him though! And, it’s not like I wasn’t fond of him before.” Pepper defended, a broad smile painting itself across her face.

“Yeah, Underoos has a way of worming himself into your heart.” Tony said oh-so-fondly, reaching over to ruffle Peter’s hair. 

The two were silent for a couple minutes, basking in the feeling of just being together after days of separation. 

“Is he okay, though?” Tony asked softly, parental concern bleeding out of every syllable. 

“He will be. I reminded him that even if it feels like it, he never fights alone. He always has you.”

Tony sucked in a breath. “That is some really good pep-talk material there, Potts. A day and a half in and you’re already out-mentoring me. So I guess he always has us.” 

Pepper grinned at Tony, leaning into him a lingering kiss at the corner of his mouth. 

“I guess he does.”

Tony wrapped his arms more firmly around his fiance and his Underoos, and the three lay in the comfortable stillness of Peter’s room until the sun shone brightly through the curtains.

**Author's Note:**

> I really, really enjoy the idea of Pepper getting close to Peter and just absolutely adoring him. Peter, obviously, loves her too.
> 
> In my opinion, Pepper Potts is seriously amazing. She can handle all sorts of things, and I think she would make a really good friend. 
> 
> Again, this is self-indulgent fluff. I hope you guys enjoyed it!
> 
> One more thing: a HUGE thank you to two of my best friends in the world for beta-ing this fic. One of them (@queentheband) and I are writing a haikyuu fic together, so if you might be into that, check it out! I like to think we're pretty funny, but feel free to contradict me.


End file.
